How to create content fast (part 1)
I hate shipping work that’s not 100% perfect.
It’s why I could never produce the volume of content I wanted at the quality I wanted...
Until I decided to focus on finding ways to create high-quality content fast.
Here’s a list of 12 that immediately came to mind.
In keeping with the title I decide to give myself an hour to write it (finished in about 46-minutes).
Know who you’re creating for
No set order to these ideas, but this should be number 1. Who is it for? What do I want them to learn, know or do? What's the problem I want to address or solve for them? Don’t create content for the sake of it. Know who it's for and why you're creating it.
Use templates
AIDA is great. It’s a quick and easy way to get your main thoughts and ideas down into a semi-usable format.
Headline first, then sub-heads
Write your headline first then the subheadings. Then fill in the detail. Most people read a headline first then skim through the subheadings. If the piece is interesting to them they’ll go back and read it in full.
Keep a topic list
Knowing your audience makes it much easier to write a list of topics they’ll want to hear about. It also helps you find useful and valuable topics and dismiss those that won’t be of interest to them.
Know the value/result you’re delivering
I always start with the result or value I want to deliver and use it as a guide. Wherever possible this should be included in the headline.
Write first, edit later
Best writing advice ever! Keep your writing and editing separate.
Ignore punctuation, spelling and grammar
I still struggle with this. If you can crack this you’ll have a very effective way of producing the first draft of anything fast.
Research first
Get all your research out of the way before you start. You should be able to knock off a first draft based on the knowledge you’ve accumulated doing the research. You can dig into the research proper in future drafts.
Make it short
No sh*t Sherlock! Not everything you write needs to be 3000 words long.
Bin the filler
Laser-focus on the value you want to deliver. Filler content shows a lack of confidence or knowledge.
Think Parkinson’s Law
You’ll need to experiment with this one to find what works best for you.
Curate instead of creating
You don’t need to create all the content from scratch yourself from scratch. No one believes you have all the answers to everything anyway. If you do curate you should add your own thoughts… And always quote or include the original source. Stealing ain’t cool.
That’s it.
Let me know what's worked for you to create quality content fast.
Tagged as: Creating Great Content
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